Crime is an issue that almost everyone is talking about everyday throughout the city and everywhere else, too. How are many of these guns are reaching the street? I had a conversation with some retired police officers and asked what they think is going on and what’s different from when they worked on the street. For one thing over 150 cars downtown over a previous month were broken into while parked mostly in parking lots and parking structures. Would you believe that several guns were stored in these cars? You cannot carry a gun into many locations, so people just put them under their seat. In addition, many people coming in from the suburbs for entertainment leave valuables inside their vehicles also. Back when I was on the street, we had a music location where numerous cars were broken into on big concert nights.
If you are going to store your firearm in your vehicle it is better to have a gun safe bolted in your trunk of the vehicle. So, many guns on the street come from home burglaries and auto break-ins. A gun safe in your home is also a very good idea. Guns in your home in addition should have gun locks to prevent accident type incidents. These retired officers advised me that criminals are a lot more violent these days compared to when they were working. Many are also a lot more mobile and can get around a lot quicker. Random crime all over the place is going on at a quicker pace.
The mayor and chief of police talked about hiring retired auto squad detectives to help with the reckless driving in the city. I would add they should think about hiring retired homicide detectives to look over old homicide cases. A new fresh look at the cases may help to solve some of them. Many families are really hurting from these unsolved homicides, and it would help a lot. The homicide clearance rate currently is under 50% and should be much higher. Back when I was working, we had a clearance rate of about 80% which was one of the highest in the country. The number of detectives for the department is down compared to several years ago. The department must figure this out and decide how to use the manpower to deal with these crime issues.